Monthly Archive: July 2017

The sea food industry can attract quite a few benefits if it has a right approach to the needful technology. The advantages of adopting ERP software application in the sea food production sector extends to both traceability and cost curtailing.

The implementation of software system in the industry can make the entire procedure of sea food processing more reliable and effective. Each phase of sea-food processing, from catching fishes from the water bodies to its distribution, customized ERP solutions, can help keep track of the exact quantity, quality and all other necessary details. Unlike the past, the storage of sea-food products, its primary grading and similar aspects go through several accountable procedures with the help of software applications. The application can also help notify the next required step to be taken like cutting, cleaning or preserving till the ultimate delivery of the products.

The long run needs of the seafood industry can be sorted with customized ERP software. Each department within the company, when linked to the application, provides consistency and traceability. For instance, as the vendor managing department updates the status of the primary and secondary products in real time, product tracking is made easier and therefore reduces wastage.

Another key feature that ERP solution offers is the optimal use of resources and progressing sales and marketing procedures in the industry. It also keeps an account of all the articles and books related to revenue and sales. The ERP solution simplifies the production management in seafood companies as it replaces the disorganized paper works with a well-organized application, making it cost-effective as it depends less on resources.

SBL bespoke solutions offers an ERP architecture that can be customized according to the industrial needs. ERP solutions help in refining the quality and utility of the resources involved, assuring to reduce production cost. It improvises the work efficacy, hence augmenting profits for the industry.

Offshoring is an excellent way to lower operating expense and boost productivity levels. But there are certain challenges that need to be addressed before jumping on the off shoring bandwagon. The first question to ask is, whether the cost savings projected are based on reality or is it just a myth? While operating costs can certainly be lesser else where, you need to look at quality and feasibility. In India the labor costs are 30-50% lesser for software services as compared to US and Europe. The cost savings does not affect the quality of work as expected in usual off shoring scenarios. In fact, there are numerous offshore software development companies that are CMMI level 5 certified and ISO 9001 certified. Combine this with the continuously improving infrastructure along with top notch connectivity capabilities and you have the recipe for a successful offshore partnership.

Offshore software development and IT services is one of the fastest growing sectors here. The primary reason for this is the availability of a large pool of qualified professionals who have exposure to the international work ethic. In terms of project management too, the customer satisfaction levels with projects and its overall management is higher for ones executed in India. Whether it be the quality of delivery or the meeting of delivery commitments, Indian companies show a greater success ratio. One of the reasons could be that better project management models like Agile, XPM etc. is actively utilized for project management. India also boasts of an ecosystem of service providers who can handle mega projects as well as domain specific niche services. The plethora of benefits offered by India is currently unmatched and will remain so for the coming years.

A professionally edited photograph is a powerful marketing tool to convey about business products in the most convincing style. In the era of digital marketing, photo editing has become the very essence of brand building.

Photos have become the universal language of marketing and image editing can augment retail industries’ communication in the marketplace. An impressive photograph with high-end editing creates credibility and improves its professional appearance in the market. Photo editing services can remove imperfections from images and make it a meticulous piece for marketing. According to the advertising requirements, an expert in photo editing can specialize settings to make high quality images from the original ones. This approach can easily be attained by photo retouching, a photo manipulation technique to enhance the quality of the image. Photo retouching can save money and time as it doesn’t demand the photo shoot to be done again for better quality pictures.

Customers tend to judge businesses with the images they see on social media and other online websites. A visually striking image can help garner more sales of products by enticing them, especially if they can access it through different platforms. Implementing photo editing method can customize images based on particular parameters for multiple platforms to give a uniform impact. These parameters also make the photo-intensive tasks easier as they can be applied on other images, offering brand consistency. Furthermore, a neatly clipped image can feature products to impress audiences. With image clipping, unwanted portions are eliminated and relevant ones are incorporate efficiently. Clipping also enables reuse of images for multipurpose by changing the image’s background and clubbing it with other images.

Resizing, cropping, compressing, and much more can be done with photo editing tools. A photo can speak thousand words, and with a well edited photo of a business product, one doesn’t need words to showcase it.

With businesses becoming more complex , the IT staff is subjected to increasing management challenges. Technology vendors offer a proficient method as an effective way to solve this problem through automation.
Unlike the initial method that demands human effort, this alternative enables all the mundane and repetitive tasks to be done with the use of control processors. It consequently cuts down the operational staff cost as it eliminates human intervention.

For instance, manually updating security tools of every single machine in the organization was a periodic tiresome work done by IT admins before the invention of automation. The burden on IT admins reduced significantly as the updates can now be automated. The possibility of errors to occur has also reduced because the automated actions are performed identically, leaving no room for mistakes. This method assures reliable and predictable results and is coupled with the advantage of saving time.

One of the additional benefit of automation is job scheduling. Once the work is scheduled, automation executes it meticulously in the correct sequence, parallel to any other work that’s currently being done. This procedure of multitasking will expedite business processes and hence increase productivity of the organization. Automation plays a key role in implementing superior strategy as the key metrics can be recorded, based on which long-term development plans can be made. Adding to the competitive advantages, IT enabled automation offers well-grounded services and gains customer satisfaction.

When IT enabled automation is tailored according to the organization’s need, it ends up saving time on management processes assuring a reliable, productive and impeccable end results.

The past century has seen a rapid and astonishing progress of the Vfx technologies as evidenced by the evolution from the initial Star Wars movie to movies like Jurassic park, Matrix and the more recent Marvel’s Avengers. Whether you have live action or animations, Vfx has become a necessary aspect of movie production. Vfx is basically using computer generated graphics to create visual imagery and make it look real. Vfx has become a necessary part of post production where it enhances the effects and makes the situation believable thereby creating a satisfying sensory experience for the viewer. The newer technologies will enable creation of digital humans and the day is not far off where we will have movie stars who would be entirely digital. Currently the boundaries of visuals effects are constantly being pushed with new technology like : Augmented reality, Motion capture, Crowd simulation, Hologenese and the like .

Creating Vfx requires teams that include concept artists, modelers, animators to work together and conceptualize, plan as well as monitor the implementation closely. The entire scenario and the various possibilities have to be first charted out, decided and then the production happens accordingly. During post production the additions and modifications are added to add realistic imagery to the movie or video. The greatest advances that we are witnessing are the emergence of techniques involving augmented reality (AR), motion mapping and crowd simulation. SBL are pioneers in Vfx technologies offering solution for media & films, education, corporate sector etc. Talent and creativity along with cutting edge technology allows us to create magic out of pixels!

‘A picture is worth thousand words’- this is especially true in the fashion industry where impressions are everything. Making pictures say what you want them to say has now become possible through digital exertion. Photo manipulation is heavily used in the fashion industry where the final images simply have to look good and convey the right message. The demands on the models and the photographers are high and digital exertion comes in as a handy tool to ensure that these demands are met. Improving the picture through retouching, editing, masking etc. becomes easy with the latest and highly sophisticated photo manipulation tools available in the market. The range of options and flexibility provided by these image manipulating tools has improved over time.

Image editing software can be used for a variety of tasks such as – adding new elements, image retouching, adjusting colors, changing backgrounds and even for removing entire parts of a picture. The heavy use of these tools is easily visible in fashion magazines where almost 100% of the images are retouched. Earlier, the manipulated images could be identified, but not anymore. The coming of Photo shop and similar digital tools has made this affair flawless and viewers are unable to identify the modifications made. Fashion is all about visual communication and the images have to amaze, fascinate, and capture the imaginations of the viewers. Image editing is the vehicle that makes this a possibility by providing the technological capability to match the creativity of the user.

IOT can have a profound impact on the lives when integrated with GIS and this is definitely the way the world is moving. Linking products, devices, networks, objects and data opens up infinite possibilities. In the new paradigm of computing outside the desktop, the information and communication systems will become embedded in our environment and, unseen by us, will be transmitting and receiving information and communicating with a myriad of other devices, objects and networks. What were previously sensing devices used for gather information of GIS technologies will now evolve into ‘smart’ decision making and implementation systems. An example would be people-centric sensing where low cost sensing of the environment specifically localized to the user can be conducted.

When this capability builds it would be possible to provide solutions real time specific to the user needs based on the environment and context in which an event occurs. Data visualization and analysis will improve in leaps and bounds when integrating GIS with IOT. Predicting environmental changes and events will be enhanced by this union. The uses are varied and numerous, for e.g.- insurance companies can track driving behavior real time, supply chain management and inventory management can happen remotely, you can receive status updates from your home devices and control them while away. The implementation of this can also greatly impact waste management, urban planning, home automation, environmental monitoring and management and emergency response systems. To enable this, emerging technologies such as real-time localization, embedded sensors and near field communications also need to be developed simultaneously.

IOT is definitely the grand future of technology. The fantasy of having your appliances and devices connected making them ‘smart’ has now become a reality. But at what cost? Imagine your appliances and devices, all constantly receiving and sending data and connected to the worldwide web. Doesn’t that also open them up to security infringements and hacks to anyone in the cyber world? Human faults and laxity can be misused by a skilled infiltrator to gain access to the networks and do as they please. We humans are usually careless and ignore the need for constant vigilance in the monitoring of networks. For a skilled infiltrator, it is quite easy to crack passwords, use network sniffers to analyze network traffic and even launch methods like man–in the middle (MITM) to attacks, Address resolution Protocol (ARP) manipulations etc. A weak module anywhere within the network can throw the network wide open for access for anyone from anywhere.

IOT poses a greater challenge than traditional networks as there are umpteen number of communication protocols and standards as well as varying device capabilities. The continued evolution of IOT will create increasing complexity of the networks as the security systems and standards need time to mature to cope with the expansion. At SBL, we are constantly improving our solutions to match the changing technology demands. The increased convenience provided by IOT should not blind us to the necessity of building capabilities in protecting our networks from hackers and attackers looking to infiltrate and access sensitive data.

Interface design is a crucial aspect of delivering great user experience. But many companies overlook the importance of branding the interface. One company that does pay close attention to branding of the interface is Apple. If you are a fan of Apple products you know that there are certain distinctive visual elements and overall design aspects that remain common in many of its products. This goes a long way into reinforcing the key aspects of the brand such as quality, style and distinctiveness.

The branded interface tells your narrative in a subtle manner while creating amazing user experiences. What this does is to promote the brand awareness among customers and ties in well with the marketing strategy. The primary goal is not branding but to create great user experiences but you need to simultaneously weave in the brand awareness through the design. Branding takes effort -it means understanding the target market and their needs and wants. Once a thorough understanding has been gained you now have to identify what key aspects you want your brand to stand for and then create a persona. This work is best left to professionals, as going wrong here would doom your efforts even before you get started.

SBL offers interface branding and UI design solutions that deliver results. When it come to branding the key principle is to ‘do it right the first time’. When your brand and message is consistent and communicated through the interface design, carving out your niche in the market becomes an easier task.